February 12—On the second reading of the Jewish Disabilities Bill, J. H. H. Foley, Esq., O. Ricardo, Esq., and Lord M. Hill voted in the majority for their removal—and R. Godson, Esq., T. J. Ireland, Esq., Hon. General Lygon, Sir J. S. Pakington, Bart., F. Rufford, Esq., Captain Rushout, and Sir H. Willoughby in the minority.
February—The Corn Exchange dispute now raged in Worcester, being made in great measure a question of politics; the Protectionists supporting the proposal to build a new exchange in Angel Street, and the Free Traders insisting on the old site, from which they contended it could not be removed without much injustice to the shopkeepers and owners of property in the Corn Market. The Mayor, Mr. Webb, made many strenuous efforts to effect an amicable arrangement between the parties, but without success; and the silly result was, that instead of uniting the funds to build a handsome hall that would have been a credit to the city, two were built. The erection in Angel Street entailed great loss upon the subscribers; and the handsome room in the Corn Market, though left without many embellishments which had been intended to be added, was a ruinous affair both to the shareholders and the contractor. As the agriculturists all steadfastly attended the Angel Street room, the one in the Corn Market was at last obliged to be closed as a corn exchange, and was sold under the Joint Stock Company’s Winding-up Act for £1,710—the price to the shareholders being upwards of £4,000. It is now transformed into a very handsome Music Hall.
April 22—The Worcestershire Agricultural Protection Society dissolved itself, and voted its funds in hand, amounting to £500, towards the erection of the Angel Street Corn Exchange. The Messrs. Dent, with Mr. Francis Hooper and Mr. Lucy, protested against the appropriation of the money to the building of the Angel Street Corn Exchange.
June 19—Sir John Pakington moved an amendment on Lord John Russell’s plan for gradually reducing the duties on colonial sugar, and was only defeated by a majority of 15—260 members voting with ministers, and 245 with Sir John Pakington. Mr. Benbow, Mr. Godson, Viscount Mandeville, Mr. Rufford, Captain Rushout, Sir H. Willoughby, and Sir J. Pakington voted in the minority, and Mr. J. H. H. Foley, Mr. O. Ricardo, and Lord M. Hill with the majority.
July 31—Several Worcester theatrical amateurs performed Sheridan Knowles’s Hunchback with great success and excellence of acting. The proceeds of this and another night’s performance were devoted to the establishment of a gloving school.
August—The British Archæological Association, under the presidency of Lord Albert Conyngham, held their annual congress in Worcester. They were received by the Mayor and Corporation—held morning and evening sederunts, at which papers were read and antiquities exhibited—visited Sudeley Castle and other places of interest in the neighbourhood—unrolled a mummy at the County Courts, &c. The meeting was concluded by a soirée at the Guildhall, given by Lord and Lady Conyngham, at which Mr. Silk Buckingham delivered a lecture on Thebes, &c.
September—After a lapse of ten years an Exhibition of Paintings was again opened in Worcester, and proved upon the whole very successful. The catalogue numbered 200 pictures, amongst which were Constable’s “Salisbury Cathedral,” and works by Etty, Sidney Cooper, Müller, &c.
Local Acts—Worcester New Gas Company’s Amendment Act; to authorise the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway to raise a further sum of money; to authorise an alteration in the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway; to enable the Worcester Turnpike Trustees to make alterations in roads, &c.
1849.
The extreme distress in Ireland caused by the continuance of the potato blight—the repeal of the Navigation Laws, carried on second reading by 266 to 210—and the admission of Jews to Parliament, refused by the Lords—were the chief topics of Parliamentary discussion. Consols averaged 92½; wheat, 44s. 3d.